The present invention relates to a refrigerant fluid trap for vacuum evaporators for the deposit of thin metal films.
Evaporators for the above use are known which include, in a vacuum chamber, a source of evaporation of the electronic gun, boat or filament type placed in front of the receiving substrate.
A suitable gettering trap is also included in said evaporators to capture the condensable vapors (water or other) and any possible contaminants which could otherwise compromise the vacuum state and hence deposit of the desired metal.
The traps presently in use are generally formed of coils of copper tubing through which runs refrigerant fluid which causes them to act as cold walls exposed to the condensable vapors.
A shortcoming of known traps is represented by their inability to operate in close contact with the source of evaporation because of their conformation as indicated above. As a result, trapping efficiency is not high.